Gourd bharta from Mughal kitchen

Bharta literally is a mash — ungainly to look at, more often than not prepared with chargrilled or roasted in tandoor brinjal. It is a proletarian dish, commonly encountered in dhabas and some times cooked at home. In Bihar, it appears as chokha, dressed with raw mustard oil and carrying the pungent tang of pickle oil. In Bengal, you can savour kalo jeero bharta and there does exist a non-vegetarian version, the chicken bharta, that puts to shade the imported chicken salad. But we digress.

Recently in Ahmedabad for a short visit, we were treated to a delectable badshahi lauki ka bharta by computer engineer-turned-cloud kitchen entrepreneur Vinayak Sudhalkar. It tasted out of this world and prompted us to ask ourselves, why has this baingan bharta look-alike been named badshahi?

Ahmedabad is a city where more US dollar billionaires dwell than can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The number of rupee billionaires is in hundreds. Many of them are descendants of Nagar Sheths and Jugat Sheths or scions of families who have served as imperial jewellers in Mughal courts. The majority of the creme de la creme are practising Jains who eschew garlic and onions. However, this hasn’t stopped them from preparing peerless delicacies in their kitchen. Vinayak has been inspired to create his lauki ka badshahi bharta from an almost lost recipe.

By the way, the Mughals weren’t only carnivorous. They relished vegetarian delicacies equally. Salma Yusuf Husain, who has documented and recreated many recipes from her translation of ‘Nuskha-e-Shahjahani’ in her book ‘The Emperor’s Table’, talks about many types of bharta. ‘Bazm e Aakhir’ by Munshi Faizuddin describes the elaborate spread that the last Mughal emperor enjoyed; it included assorted bhartas.

The magical spell is cast by the special freshly ground aromatic masala mixture. Improvise and tweak as much as you like, but consider this as a royal farman you can’t disregard!

Lauki ka Badshahi Bharta

Ingredients

Lauki/bottle gourd 650-700 gm

Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Asafoetida 1 large pinch

Fresh coriander leaves 1 large sprig (for garnish)

Garam Masala

Coriander seeds 1 tsp

Cumin 1 tsp

Cloves 2-3

Black cardamom 1

Green cardamom 1

Cinnamon (1-inch stick) 1

Kashmiri red chilli (whole) 2

Black peppercorns 1 tsp

Tej patta/bay leaf 1

Dagad phool/stone flower 1

Star anise 1

Javitri/mace 2-3 blades

Salt To taste

Lightly dry roast all the ingredients and make a coarse powder

For the gravy

Ginger & green chilli paste 1 tbsp

Tomato (small, chopped) 1

Ghee or oil 1/3 cup

Method

• Coat the lauki with a film of oil/ghee and roast on stove till it is charred. Remove the outer black layer and mash the flesh to pulp and keep it aside.
• Heat ghee in a kadahi. Add mustard and cumin seeds. When these begin to crackle, add ginger and green chilli paste and stir-fry on medium flame till oil separates. Add the mashed pulp.
• Put in the asafoetida, turmeric, red chilli powder, along with salt and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Sprinkle the aromatic garam masala and cook till the ghee separates once again.
• Sprinkle a little water to avoid burning the bharta at the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes. Cook till these are mushy and oil once again separates. Mix well to blend.

Note: Tomatoes can be replaced with amchur or dahi. If using dahi, mix 1/2 cup of it with 2 tbsp water, whisk well and pour in a steady stream to avoid curdling. It provides body to the dish, besides contributing to the tang.